With particular but not exclusive reference to syringe vials it is known that one of the problems not yet satisfactorily solved is that of loading syringe vials into thermoformed tray containers with industrially required speed, with precision and without causing breakage or damage, these containers when closed and boxed representing the method by which the medicament contained in the syringe vials is sold. Their intrinsic fragility facilitates damage to the vials and to syringe vials in particular, this being difficult to reconcile with the required industrial speed, which itself detracts from adequate precision.
In this respect to load the syringe vials they must firstly be orientated from their vertical position to a horizontal position, and when in this position they must be fed into an underlying recessed container in such a manner that each syringe vial is exactly received by a separate cavity in the container, such cavities being only slightly larger than the syringe vial to be held, for reasons of compactness and adequate retention.